The Home Machinist!

Hello all, I finally got around to doing some more parts. I've made the master rod and fitted the valve guides to the cylinder heads. No prize for spotting the cylinder head with the 2-56 tap broken in it ! I tried making 2 valves but made scrap of them while cutting the grooves for the collets. I'v...

Hello Ivy Excellent work as usual. I haven't got too much done lately, I've been working late a lot but I have made 2 cylinder heads ( and destroyed 2 others !!! ). You can see them here. http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/lmipos/Edwards%20Radial%205/ Did you case harden the crankshaft before g...

Hello Ivy, I machined the pockets and drilled and counterbored the holes first using a rotary table and tilting the head of the mill as necessary. My mill looks similar to yours except I rotated the head to 180* and had the head horizontal in a vice, I did the horizontal fins on the rotary table and...

Hello Bob, I realise that the cams are not circular OK but cams are basically circles with flanks ground on to give the valve opening / closing durations given in the tables. I was thinking that if you knew the base circle of the cam it could be machined on the rotary table, then the flanks ground o...

I'm not looking forward to doing the cams, not really sure how to do it,probably on the rotary table if I can find the base circle of the cams, any ideas ? I've posted pictures of the crankcase and cover on photobucket. I'm tackling the cylinder heads next.
Regards / Paddy.

I made a cutter of correct radius and width from a broken endmill and silver soldered it to a shank which was held in a collet in the mill. Move the X and Z axes to give correct depth and position for each slot. I didn't have a slitting saw of the right radius and thickness. I'm nearly finished the ...

Ivy, Thanks for that info, I'm copying and pasting your posts into a word document, I think what's really needed is a set of construction notes, as a relative beginner I find the diagrams a bit unclear sometimes. I've just finished machining the combustion chamber side of the 5 cylinder heads in bet...

At last I've managed to post some pictures. Here's a link to my efforts so far. http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/lmipos/Edwards%20Radial%205/ Hope it works. The Piece of aluminium I had for the crankcase was slightly too small, it must be 100 mm instead of 4". I haven't drilled or tapped...

Ivy, Thanks for the reply although it took me nearly 2 weeks to be able to read it ! I have been looking at the additions to your photobucket album though. Your description is very clear and seems like an excellent solution. Besides the SB 9C lathe I also have a Beaver Model A milling machine with a...

Thanks for posting the photos, really great work. I began the Edwards engine myself recently as a first major project, I've only done the cylinders and liners so far. My lathe is a lot smaller than yours, an SB 9C, no power crossfeed. I can't tell you how many grooving tools I broke doing the fins !...